McGee was reliving his 2004 deployment to Iraq to Weisner. On McGee's mind was the moment he decided to pursue a college degree.

"I was teaching guys training strategy, tactical things. But still, I was teaching them," said McGee, who is pursuing a PhD in analytical chemistry. "That was kind of my intellectual awakening. While I was overseas, I decided I needed to come back to college. I made a promise to myself that I wasn't going to fail out."

Weisner has been on campus for less than two weeks. He has an 18-year-old roommate, is eating dorm food and trying to make it to his classes on time.

Their common link has brought them together under a new mentor program aimed at helping Purdue's veterans adjust to campus life. McGee is Weisner's mentor.

"The way we talk to each other is different than the way we'd talk to someone who hasn't been in the military," Weisner told the Journal & Courier (http://on.jconline.com/19ZckIK ). "We speak a completely different language."

As a result of the military drawdown in Afghanistan and the end of the Iraq War, colleges, including Purdue, are ramping up their services to support the rising numbers of student veterans who have joined the ranks since 2009.

That was the year that a new set of federal education benefits — the Post 9/11 GI Bill — went into effect to help the latest generation of military veterans pay for college.

"I think we have a lot of eager students that know that they've earned a benefit and know they want to take advantage of that benefit," said Jamie Richards, Purdue's coordinator of military veteran and nontraditional student programs.

The number of veterans who receive education benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs jumped 40 percent in 2010 because of the bill. In 2012, nearly 950,000 veterans used a variety of GI benefits.

Richards said he expects an upward trend to continue as officials continue to curtail overseas combat in the Middle East.

President Barack Obama has said he expects military involvement in Afghanistan to come to a close by the summer of next year, which would bring home most of the nearly 63,000 forces still deployed there.

After a period of sharp growth at Purdue from 2008 to 2011, the number of those identified as veterans or receiving veteran benefits at the West Lafayette campus has leveled out.

Richards attributes the spike to the rollout of the bill, which pays for 36 months of education benefits for veterans or their dependents, along with a monthly housing allowance and stipend for books and supplies.

Purdue's final fall enrollment numbers are not yet finalized. Richards expects this semester's veterans figure to be close to last year's level.

In fall 2012, more than 500 students who identified themselves as military veterans on their application or who received state or federal benefits were enrolled. Nearly 90 percent of them were pursuing an undergraduate degree.

Purdue is bolstering its efforts to support the student veterans growing population.

Since arriving in October, Richards has worked to improve programs and create new opportunities for veteran and nontraditional students. The Purdue graduate serves in the U.S. Navy Reserves and has 18 years of military experience.

Richards helped open the Veterans Success Center in July to provide a one-stop shop for veterans and others who need to process or understand their GI benefits. It also acts as a meeting and programming space and provides resources for students who want to connect with on- and off-campus services.

"We have a space for veterans to be able to study, grab a cup of coffee, feel comfortable and relaxed hanging around people they're familiar with," Richards said about the center, which is on the fourth floor of the Engineering Administration building.

Another new resource is the mentor program, which Richards says is aimed at providing incoming veterans with an advocate to answer questions and help them succeed.

Gary Steinhardt, a professor of agronomy and a Vietnam War veteran, said he hopes to make an impact on incoming students by participating in the program, despite their age difference.

"It's funny because you think there's this huge generation gap," Steinhardt said. "But there's no difference in terms of your experience as a combat veteran. Scared is scared. ... Personally, I was never troubled by post-traumatic stress. But there's things I can't explain, like why I'm alive and others on my team are not."

Purdue also is improving its programming for veterans. Purdue and Ivy Tech's Student Veterans Organizations will host their second "golf scramble." this weekend. Proceeds will go to the Wounded Warrior Project, a not-for-profit organization that helps troops and their families who have incurred service-related injuries or illnesses.

Richards, who also is planning a field trip to Indianapolis this year to visit the war memorials, said the goal of the increased programming is to help veterans adjust, make friends and feel comfortable on campus.

"The transition to college for any student is different," Richards said. "If you're a veteran, you're transitioning out of the military and into a college environment. In the military you're trained to shoot at and break things. Now they're learning about themselves as a civilian and a college student, and making decisions that are significant."

There are the widely publicized challenges, such as post-traumatic stress disorder. College and classroom settings can present problems for those who are suffering from the illness, according to the College of William and Mary's Office of Disability Services. Those include being around large crowds, taking exams and dealing with noises or other triggering stimuli.

"Students maybe have experienced some significant trauma, whether it was a combat situation or maybe a physical injury," Richards said. "They're trying to cope with that while at the same time they're a college student."

McGee said he isolated himself as an undergraduate because the "sea of testosterone" he was used to had morphed into a classroom environment.

"It was one extreme to the other," McGee said. "It was a complete culture shock. I kept to myself a lot. Being older separates you a lot. Having a military background separates you a whole lot."

Other challenges for veterans include understanding and interpreting the GI Bill or other education benefits and learning how to navigate a campus environment that could be unfamiliar to many veterans.

"In the military, when you look at a uniform, you know who someone is," Richards said. "In the college environment, those cues aren't all there. It's about learning how to transition from the thought process of the military to the thought process of the campus."

McGee said it is important to look forward in order to mitigate some of those challenges.

"I always wanted to keep pushing forward so that I wouldn't say behind or keep living my deployment over and over," McGee said. "One way or another, you'll have some form of (PTSD). It's more helpful than anything to talk to other veterans about it."

Richards says he is encouraged to hear the stories of those who are thriving.

"There are going to be hurdles you have to jump to succeed here," Richards said. "One of my objectives is to lower the hurdles significantly or to kind of break off the edges.

"If they do scrape their shins on them, it's not going to hurt nearly as much."